Thursday, October 13, 2011

10/13/2011 09:37:00 PM - , 11 comments

Magic of Words - The Three Day Blow

SUMMARY

‘The Three Day Blow’ is a dramatic story by the most influential author Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961). He had won the Nobel Prize in 1954 for his book “The Old Man and the Sea” (1952). Nick is the main character of the story. There is the other character named as Bill who was the sincere friend of Nick.

The rain stopped as Nick walked into the road that went up through the orchard. But the fall wind was blowing. The road came to the orchard on to the top of the hill. There was a cottage which belongs to Bill and his father. Nick went to the cottage. Bill came out and welcomed him and let him inside the room.

Bill and Nick viewed the natural beauty. They talked about the weather and the blowing wind. Bill said that the wind would blow like that for three days. They went inside the cottage. They drank wine sitting by the fire. They talked about the games especially the baseball game, books, swimming, and their fathers. Once Nick fell in love with girl named Marge (Marjorie). They had planned to marry also but unfortunately their relationship broke down because of the bad attitude of her woman who disliked Nick and spread rumors that Nick had already got engaged. Perhaps they would never see each other again. Nostalgias made Nick sad and upset and felt isolated.

But again he thought that what had happened in the past might have been good. This feeling made him happy. Bill and Nick started to talk as previously. Carrying guns they went out for hunting delightfully.


What did Nick and Bill talk about?
Ans: Nick and Bill talked about four things: Baseball, Writers, Their Fathers and about Nick’s beloved. When they met at Bill’s house, they sat in front of fire and drank Irish Whisky. They started their conversation like any normal young men. They talked about their favorite game, which was baseball. But they were not satisfied with their team, Card, performed. Then they talked about their favorite novelist Walpole and Chesterton. Out of them the former was a better human whereas the latter was a better writer. They reconfirmed the age-old belief that one is remembered either for his work or for his behavior. After that they talked about their father. Nick’s father was a doctor, whereas Bill’s father was a painter. They both found their father better person. However, they also accepted that Nick’s father has missed a lot of things by not drinking wine.

The last topic they talked on was about the beloved of Nick, Marjorie. They had quarreled and busted up recently. The event had disturbed Nick mentally. In spite of Bill’s several attempts he was not able to forget her. During the talk he realized that there was possibility for their reunion. That realization made him feel better and filled a new energy in Nick. After that they went out for hunting

Describe the connection between mental ordeal of Nick and the title of the story.
Ans: There is a clear analogy between the tile “The Three Day Blow” and the mental ordeal Nick goes through. The movements start from his mental conflict, grow with suffering and culminate with a sense of reconciliation.

When a storm comes, everything in nature is taken by surprise and before giving enough time a lot of damage is done. Similarly, Nick and Marjorie quarrel and before they can handle the situation, they get separated. It disturbs Nick mentally. On the second day of storm, when the leaves of the tree are blown away, it looks pathetic. The condition of Nick is also same. He suffers a lot due to his separation from Marjorie, who is blown away like a leaf in the storm from Nick’s life. The suffering goes as the time passes. On the third day, when the storm is over, there comes a new chance for new creation in the nature. Similarly, at the last of the story we find Nick hopeful about his reunion with his beloved. This sense gives him mental peace.

The story is presented in a sequence of approximately seven scenes. Can you find them?
Ans: The seven scenes excluding the opening and exposition could be as following

Scene 1: Nick and Bill meet outside the cottage of latter.

Scene 2: They sit near fire drinking and talking

Scene 3: Nick brings a chunk through the kitchen

Scene 4: They put the chunk on the fire

Scene 5: Nick looks at the mirror while coming with water from kitchen

Scene 6: They again sit near fire, drink and talk about Marjorie (Nick’s Beloved)

Scene 7: They come out of cottage for hunting with their shotguns.

Describe “The Three Day Blow” as a dramatic story.
Ans: “The Three Day Blow” can be called a dramatic story for a couple of reasons. They are the maximum of use of dialogues and the scenic division in the story. Actually the elements like plot, character, setting and theme are shared by other genres of literature as well. We can find the use of dialogues and actions are minimal in fictions. They rely on narrations most of the time. Therefore the story “The Three Day Blow” by Ernest Hemingway seems quite close to a drama.

10/13/2011 09:33:00 PM - , 11 comments

Magic of Words - A Worn Path

SUMMARY

A black old woman named as Phoenix Jackson is the central character of the story. It was the month of December and she was walking slowly with a cane (stick). She covered her head with a red rag (torn-out cloth). She was speaking to herself as she was tapping her way; it is a kind of soliloquy (speaking oneself) in the story. She talked and addressed the wild animals, insects, birds, trees and bushes. She even addressed the fearful wild animal to go out from her way. As she crossed the pinewoods, she reached in the stream (river) and crossed the bridge and became over-confident that she had not become so much old and had plenty of energy inside her.

After that she had taken a short rest. But in the same time, she visualized a flash of dream when a small boy offered her a cake. She moved her hand in the air. She crossed the way by creeping under the barbed (cutting and pointed) wire. On the way she considered the scarecrow as a ghost and she shouted due to fear and drank water in the spout (tap). Meanwhile, a dog came to attack her and she started to run away but fell into the ditch and unable to come out from it. A white hunter came there and rescued her. She was so much thankful to him because of his unselfish help. She was excited and appreciated him. He had two dogs. They were began to fight and the man went to separate them, but at the same time, a nickel (five cent coin) fell on the ground from his pocket. She silently grabbed it. The white man requested the woman to go back to the home and dominated her as Granny, but the woman was constant in her determination. She did not like that man and his suggestion at all.

Finally, she arrived on the street of the city where she saw lights flashing everywhere and people were walking in the street with attractive gifts in their hands. On the meantime, her shoelace untied so she requested a lady to tie her shoelaces. The lady was a charming lady who helped her in a pleasant way and honored her as Grandma. Ultimately, she reached in a large building which was the big hospital. The nurse and the attendant started to talk with the woman, it seemed that they knew the woman very well. The nurse asked her about her grandson and his illness. But the mother didn’t know anything and forgot everything. She was looked like a wanderer. Finally the woman recalled that she had the grandson who was very sick. The nurse gave her a bottle of medicine. It was the cheerful time of Christmas, so the attendant gave her a nickel. The old woman was thinking to buy a paper wind-mill for her grandson.

Describe phoenix Jackson and the journey she undertook to the town.
Ans: Phoenix Jackson is the protagonist of the story. She is an Afro-American lady. The way she walks suggests that she is very old .She needs a cane to walk. Her long skirt made of sugar sack tells she must be very poor. Her skin is yellow and there are wrinkles on her face. But in spite of all these under privileges, she has a strong determination to continue the journey.
               Phoenix Jackson makes biannual visit to Natchez to get a soothing medicine for her grandson, which she receives as charity. Having swallowed lye, he has suffered without healing for years. Phoenix Jackson has made such journey many times and her path seems to be a worn path now.
              The story opens on a chilly December morning. Phoenix Jackson is making her way to the town slowly but surely through the pine woods tapping her umbrella cane on the ground in front of her. Her shoes are untied. While she taps along she also warns the animals to keep out of her ways. When she crosses the wood up and down the hill, due to her poor eyesight, her skirt is caught in the thorns. But quite patiently she frees herself from thorns. After that she has to traverse (cross) a stream by walking on a narrow log. Then she takes rest under a tree. She dreams a boy bringing a slice of cake. She tries to grab but her hand is in air. She leaves the place and walks along the trial. In the way she finds a fence. As she could not climb over it, she crosses it by crawling under it like a baby. When she crosses the field, she mistakes a scarecrow as a ghost and when she finds that it is just a scarecrow she dances in joy. When she reaches the wagon track, she meets a black dog with a lolling tongue. She tries to hit that dog but the attempt knocks her off balance and she falls into a ditch. As she cannot come out of it by herself, she simply waits for someone to come to rescue her. Soon after a while a hunter comes and takes her out of the ditch. When she complains that a dog has knocked her down, the hunter goes to chase that dog away but in the process a nickel falls upon his pocket. Phoenix takes that coin. When hunter comes he points his gun on her and asks if she is afraid but he can’t scare her and gets so impressed that he desires to give her a dime in reward. He tries to discourage the lady to go to town but he cannot.
          When she reaches town she finds it decorated in beautiful way as it is the Christmas time. Then she reaches the clinic, she forgets the reason that takes her there. But a nurse recognizes her and remembers her case and gives her the medicine after making normal enquiry. When she leaves, the attendant gives her a nickel as a Christmas gift after she comes out of the hospital. She finds she has got ten cents with her. She decides to buy a paper windmill for her grandson with that.

Trace the various obstacles old Phoenix comes up.
Ans: There are numerous obstacles that old phoenix has to overcome between valley and wagon track. But she overcomes each of them with her strong will- power. First of all it is very cold day and she is very old. Her old age and the unfavorable weather are the first obstacles in her long journey but she ignores that with her indomitable spirit. Second, she has to walk through the woods up and down a hill which is haunted by wild animals. She keeps the animals away by poking her cane into bush. Next obstacle is a thorny bush, which catches her skirt. Quite patiently she frees herself from that thorny bush.  Another obstacle is to transverse a stream by a narrow log. She crosses it slowly by closing here eyes and holding her cane firmly in front of her. After that the fence comes in her way as she is very old she cannot cross it by climbing over it. She crawls under it like a baby. The last obstacle that comes before the wagon track is a Scarecrow. First she thinks it is a ghost but she finds it a scarecrow.  In this way she overcomes all the obstacles that come in her way.

What is the meaning of episode in which Phoenix steals the nickel? Does the act offend our sense of honesty? Explain.
Ans: When phoenix Jackson falls into a ditch  she wait for someone  to come and  rescue her after sometime  a hunter comes and helps  her to come out. She complains that she is knocked by the dog. The hunter goes to chase that dog. In the process a nickel falls from his pocket when she sees it she takes it stealthy at the same time the bird flies and it makes her think that the god is watching her. It shows that she confesses her sin to the god and her act is forgiven at once. We can say this because we see the hunter coming back and expressing his desire to reward the lady with a dime. It can be taken as an attempt of writer to make her realize that what she takes is only half of the award she is worthy of.
           Therefore the act of phoenix doesn’t offend our senses of honesty. Rather her pathetic condition arouses sympathy in our heart. It was Christmas time and she needs some gift for her grandson. Any person would do the same if s/he were in her place.

How does Phoenix describe her situation to the white man who helps her up?
Ans: Phoenix describes that her situation is similar to a June bug. A June bug is an insect. When it is turned upside down, it cannot turn back to its normal position by itself. It needs help from someone to do so. If the people do not arrive in time, it will die. The situation of Phoenix Jackson is also same. She is too weak to come out of ditch by herself. Therefore, she simply waits for someone to come and lift her up from the ditch.

Why is Phoenix taking the long trip to town?
Ans: Phoenix has only one relative left with her who is her grandson. Once he has swallowed a solution named lye. It damaged his throat and made it painful for him to drink or eat anything. According to doctors, it couldn’t be cured. However they gave a kind of soothing medicine, which could be used to soften his throat. The medicine helps him to eat and drink.
Phoenix is going to fetch the same medicine, which she gets free from a clinic in Natchez. She makes such visit twice a year.

How does old Phoenix plan to do with the money she has got during the day? Why?
Ans: Phoenix Jackson plans to buy a paper windmill for her grandson. According to her it will be a good thing for him because the child has never seen such a wonderful thing in his life. It was also the Christmas time and it is a tradition to give gifts during this time to one’s near and dears. Since she has only one relative, she also decided to take a Christmas gift for him from the town. Besides, she has only ten cents and she cannot buy anything more valuable than a paper windmill with that sum of money.

10/13/2011 09:30:00 PM - , No comments

Magic of Words - Speaking of Children

UNDERSTANDING AND SYNOPSIS OF ESSAY

‘Speaking of Children’ is an essay written by Barbara Holland which shows
the numerous problems of those parents who have got more than one child. One child is inevitable for all parents but more than one is a headache in various way and the essayist tires to address such kind of problems in this essay. The precious moment, happiness and the family bliss are somewhere lost when the parents have more than one child.

Having plural children are not only problematic to the parents only but for the children themselves because they are deprived from the fundamental and natural right and some are even deprived from the balance diet. For the sole desires, interest and happiness as well as privacy and peacefulness, many parents are facing critical problems. The parents should have to fulfill the each and every demands of the children and these all are almost impossible if thy have the plural children. Apart from that, having more than one child creates social, economic problems. The parents can manage good environment in the house if they have one child. You can brainwash the mind of the children. It may not create problem for you. But plural children nourish a counter-culture trend in the family.

According to the essayist’s opinion, it’s very essential to a healthy marriage that the wife should manage some quiet private time to chat with the husband, preferably when he gets home from work. They need peace and privacy just for half an hour. But in such a private and peaceful moment also your children are disturbing you. Sometimes they quarrel, sometimes they break off something and sometimes they interrupt the peaceful conversation between the couple.

OUTLINE OF ESSAY

  1. Problems of having more than a child in a family. One child is outnumbered and easy to manage. 
  2. Plural children weaken the pleasure and peace in the family. The family life can be disturbed by the plural children and the situation can be very worst. 
  3. Mutual understanding, co-operation, love and harmony are almost impossible.
  4. The parents become tired and they can unable to control the family and destructive situation comes in final. The children make the house untidy and dirty, break things and produce unwanted noise.
  5. The consequences of having plural children cause the adverse impact in the family. The family status decrease day by day regarding social, economic and cultural factors.
  6. One child is appendage (addition, attachment) in a family. But more than one is the way of life or the adverse way of life.
  7. The peace and privacy in family is possible when the parents have one child, likewise the joy and jovial family life is there. The parents do not get an hour to talk separately. 
  8. One child leads the parents to live in easy way but more than one makes them difficult to live with all their problems and difficulties.
  9. One child is easy for upbringing, educating and feeding. The child grows up in the perfect environment and gets all the facilities or can live by his all child-right.
  10. The writer also addresses the child-spacing; at least two children are manageable in the family. But her serious concern is for a single child. The writer faces the serious problems in the family because of the plural children.
  11. The family expenditure rises highly if the parents have more than one child and the parents should face the economic crisis.

10/13/2011 09:23:00 PM - , 2 comments

Magic of Words - Look At A Tea Cup

SYNOPSIS AND UNDERSTANDING OF ESSAY
Look at a Teacup, written by Patricia Hampl, is a complicated and quite motivating essay which shows the distinction between the traditional norms, notions and dogmas with the new ideology of modern world. There is generation gap between the old and new.
The writer is the speaker of the essay who says that her mother had bought a teacup in 1939. The highly decorated but plain looking cup is the major concern of the essay. Numerous ideas are connected and concerned with the tea cup, so it is the memento of entire events of the past. The speaker gives the specific emphasis to the teacup and its elation to art and architecture of the Mid-Twentieth century. The writer further associates the tea cups with the historic events, esp. in the time of Hitler and during the Second World War.  Then, the speaker praises the tea cup, its charm and pictures of flowers that are painted in the teacup. The every discussion between the speaker and her mother are concerned around the teacup, it is the focal point of their discussion.  As the writer’s mother was from Czechoslovakia, she bought the teacup in 1939, the same year she got married and the Second World War also began. The teacup reminds the mother as her own native country and the history of her native land. The outer and inner descriptions of teacup are highly praised by the writer. The teacup is considered as the golden one with its pale water-green colour. There is also a band of gold on the inner circle of the saucer (plate), It is shiny and there are thin bands of gold around the edges of the saucer and cup on the borders of the cup and its saucer light sides of gold are outlines. The combination of colour and flower inside and outside the teacup are very attractive. The flowers inside the teacup are seemed as if it is live and animated. 
The essay gives the minute details about the tragedy caused by the war. When she describes the destructive war, she becomes sad and upset. They both have the contrasting opinion and ideas about the world and war. Apart from that they have also different opinion about the family and work. The daughter gives emphasis on work whereas the mother insists that the family is the most important thing in the world.
            The major subject they discuss in the essay is the issue of marriage. The mother has the conventional opinion about the marriage but the speaker disagrees from her opinion. The mother often worries about the marriage of her daughter but the daughter shows reluctance about the marriage and stand firmly in the statement. The speaker might have detested the marriage as she had seen the forceful love attempts between her father and mother. The speaker once found her father pulled her mother’s back and hugged her and kissed her forcefully in the kitchen. The event detests her from the marriage. She wants the mutual understanding in marriage, but such type of unusual, self-centered and inappropriate steps form strong hate on the tradition form of marriage.
When the mother got married, the condition of the entire Europe was devastating. Firing, bombing and mass killing made her fearful that she would die. She escaped from her home country as it was destroyed by the war; likewise the factory of teacup was also destroyed. Everything destroyed by the Second World War but the tiny teacup she bought in the year of her marriage was remained unbroken. The sky becomes cloudy from smoke of fire of bombs. So the teacup is the unchared (not burned) finger from the mid-century bonfire.  
The essay also shows the relation between the men and women. The women during the Second World War were maltreated and highly dominated. The writer said that the roses were fallen from the sky to destroy the life of women. Roses were thrown as bomb to women; it means the condition and plight of women were very low and miserable. The essay here shows the contradiction between the old traditions as represented by mother and the modern value and thinking as represented by the speaker (daughter). The opinion and beliefs on women have been drastically (radically, severely) changed nowadays and they are treated as equal to men in most part of the world.     
This essay even claims that the writing can be the way of finding various details and perspective of people, discovering implication in apparently minor events, and of making associations between seemingly disparate (unequal) elements. The mother has escaped the magnitude of history by retreating (withdrawing, moving back) into pragmatism (practicality, common sense, way of thinking result and way of evaluating theories). But Hampl has the positive ideas to escape history by fighting it. She slightly refuses to carry on old traditions like marrying and bearing children. There is the contrast between the old tradition and the new generation.


Describe the teacup and saucer.
Ans: The teacup and saucers were brought by Patricia Hampl’s mother in 1939. The cups were made in Czechoslovakia and each has a stamp ‘Czechoslovakia’ on the bottom. Each cup was made of finest china clay. The cup is water green in colour, which the essayist tells is even hard imagine. There are golden lines on cups’ edges on base and on the edges and inner circle of the saucer. There isn’t any other decoration outside the cups.
But the inner decorations make the cups special and supreme example of Czech art. There are flowers falling inside the cup. Those flowers do not seem pasted. They appear as if someone has shaken a bundle of flower and all the flowers are cut in motion. No two flowers are of same kind or colour. Neither any two of them are falling from same altitude. There is a golden circle inside the cups, which shine beneath the falling flowers. In short the cups and saucers are extremely beautiful, delicate and definite.


Mention the difference between the mother and the daughter.
Ans: Patricia Hampl and her daughter are different in their ideas. For mother “family” is most important thing in the life of a woman. It is a place where she can find food, shelter, protection and love. These things include every need of women in a traditional patriarchal society. To start a family, one must marry, which is a sacred in situation of her.
Patricia Hampl is a modern feminist so she is aware about the pathetic condition of a woman in the society. She thinks to rescue women from that condition. Work should be considered as the most important thing. Work can make them independent, whereas family makes them dependent. Unlike her mother, she doesn’t have any regard for the age old, norms, value and tradition. She regards marriage a tragic end. It is bond in which only a woman loses her individuality. She is aware how the woman of her mother’s generation fell on beds paired with their husband and couldn’t stand again in their lives. Therefore she has refused to fall. She doesn’t think marriage was important in her mother’s time as well. According to her, the only benefit they got was a license to set physical relation, but she thinks one does not necessarily need to marry to establish physical relations. One can have sexual satisfaction before marriage as well and the marriage must not be taken as a license for sexual gratification.
The mother is introvert and in shy even to express her love for her husband. She is submissive in nature and always suppresses her wishes. It was not only the case of essayist’s mother but of every woman of that generation. To prove that she has recalled an event when her mother was assigned to write an essay on Hitler at high school, although nobody in the class liked that. They completed an assignment without any complain.
The mother like all traditional women kills her valuable time in thinking about minor things but the daughter is bold enough to express her idea and fulfill her wishes. Unlike the traditional women of her mother’s time, she doesn’t want to kill her time in nonsense gossips. In fact through this essay, she appeals every woman to come out of their usual role and uplift their status themselves.


Explain the cup is a detail, a small uncharred finger from the mid century bonfire.
Ans:  The mid century bonfire is the reference to the Second World War. It was the most devastating war that the human civilization had ever seen. About 55 million people were killed besides living many more million homeless, crippled and wounded. Almost all the countries of Europe had to bear unprecedented loss of life and property in the awful fire of war. One of such countries, which burnt in the conflagration of war, was Czechoslovakia. Patricia Hampl has a set of teacup, which was made in Czechoslovakia safe with her. She considered it is a part of Czechoslovakia since the country itself was burnt in fire of World War II. She regards it an uncharred finger. It is not only the concrete example superior Czech art but also reminds us the destruction of the Second World War, the falling bodies soldiers, falling bombs, crumbling countries. Thus she thinks it a detail, which could provide enough information to rewrite the history.

10/13/2011 09:19:00 PM - , No comments

Magic of Words - My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold

Summary
The poet says that his heart leaps up when he sees a rainbow in the sky. It was the beginning of his life, and now he’s well grown up. He knows that he will grow old and finally die, too. As the child (past) is father (future) of the man (present), the poet wishes his days to be bound to each period (past, present and future) by natural piety, that is, natural blessing of divinely power.
The distinction of Wordsworth lies in the fact that to him Nature was not mere physical loneliness, but a revelation of God. He worshiped nature. He saw in all natural objects the indwelling spirit of Supreme Being. To him he varied forms and phenomena were nothing but manifestation of the divine.  He realized that to love nature is to Man who is part and parcel of the nature. Nature is the great teacher and healer. In the first two line of the poem, the poet feels his heart leaps up at the sight of a rainbow in the sky. The nature has produced a good effect on the poetic mind of Wordsworth. The poet has been turned to the skepticism of life because of the spectrum of the rainbow.
In the third, fourth and fifth lines, he has found natural continuation of life – child, man and old man. In the fifth line, there is speculation (guess) of the break in the continuation. Death is inevitable to end the beautiful period of life.
The seventh line is basically the main theme of the poem. The widely accepted proverb, “The Child is the Father of Man” has to tell us a lot. It says that the present is the outcome of the past. So naturally the future will be the outcome of the past. The last two lines conclude the argument. The poet, therefore, concludes wishing that his days should be bound to each period of life by natural way with divinely pleasure.


Explain the paradox in “The child is the father of the man”.
A paradox is a statement that seems to be absurd on contradictory but is or may be true. Generally we think the man is the father of the child because father is the source from which something originates. We know that the role of man is instrumental behind the birth of the child. A child can never produce a man, therefore the statement; “the child is the father of the man” is a paradoxical.
However the poet does not mean that a child can biologically produce a grown up man by the above statement he has expressed his opinion about the natural growth of a human being in which a child always develops into man. A man can never transform into child, child posses a seed like quality a seed develops into an autonomous tree and bears flowers and a fruit according to the seed similarly the man also inherits all the characteristics from its childhood a kind child manifests cruelty in its manhood. Thus, it can be said that “the child is the father of the man”.
 The statement also means present is the outcome of past the statement assured the poet about the continuity of the time and natural beauty. According to which if the rainbow is as beautiful as it was in the past, it will certainly remain equally beautiful in future too.

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